The compact coil spring/shock absorber units used on the back of the e-type (plus the XJ6, XJS, S-type etc) are difficult to disassemble with standard spring compressors. The reason is that these compressors are mostly designed for Macpherson Strut type installations where the spring may be 5 or 6 inch diameter, whereas in the e-type case it's more like a motorcycle spring and only ~3 inch diameter.This means the spring compressor slips easily, with risk of injury, and the compressor easily damages the shock tube or the paint of the spring.

On the Jag-Lovers site I saw a description of using an old rear brake disc to help, because the hole in the middle of the disc is just the right size to push the spring and allow the shock collars to be free to move.

I used a cheap spring compressor to provide the 2 long bolts needed to connect the brake discs on either end of the spring together.

It's simple to assemble and very safe, there's no way the spring can 'slip-out' as the shock is passing thru the whole jig and is retained by the discs.

Using a wrench on the 2 bolts allows the spring to be compressed as much as you like; no need to fiddle with the collets as you can safely compress the spring way down so you have easy 'finger access' to the collets & retainer.

If you don't have some old brake discs lying around then I would even suggest buying a set of discs just for this purpose, as they're pretty cheap...

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